


Study Styles

by deandratb



Category: One Day at a Time (TV 2017)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Library, F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-04-29
Updated: 2018-04-29
Packaged: 2019-04-29 12:56:36
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,234
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14473224
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/deandratb/pseuds/deandratb
Summary: Prompt fic; meet-cute at the college library.Penelope managed to hold back the full heat of her temper, but barely. “Quiet! It’s not quiet,” she hissed. “It is loud. And through your headphones, it is a tiny but loud noise that is making it impossible for me to study for my final.”





	Study Styles

**Author's Note:**

  * For [bethanyactually](https://archiveofourown.org/users/bethanyactually/gifts).



> Prompt: **library**

“Hey…” 

Penelope’s whisper was as quiet as she could make it while also trying to get the attention of the guy at the next table over.

He didn’t seem to hear her, so she tried again, aiming for more of a whisper-shout. “Hey!”

She caught the attention of a few other students on the third floor of the library that time, but not Headphones Guy. Giving up, she left the table where her study supplies were perfectly arranged and slid into the chair beside him.

His forehead got a cute little crease in the middle when he was surprised, she noted while he took out an earbud to give her his attention. Then he smiled.

“Hi!”

Something about his cheerful demeanor, as though he honestly thought she might have stopped by just to say hello, made Penelope’s mind go blank for a second. All she could manage back was, “Um. Hi.”

“How’s it going?”

He was still smiling. Finally, her brain clicked back on– _too much reading,_ she decided, _that had to be the problem, rather than how good he smelled up close_ –and she shook her head.

“I’ve got a final in two days and it makes up a crazy percentage of my grade and I am nowhere near ready and I don’t know if you realize this, but you are in a library, where things are supposed to be quiet, and your music…is not.”

“Is not?”

Penelope managed to hold back the full heat of her temper, but barely. “Quiet! It’s not quiet,” she hissed. “It is loud. And through your headphones, it is a tiny but loud noise that is making it impossible for me to study for my final.”

“Oh!” He blinked at her from behind his black frames, tapping one hand against the surface of the table. “I didn’t know. I am so sorry…”

Headphones Guy Who Smelled Amazing waited, until she sighed and gave in. “Penelope.”

“Penelope.” The way he said her name was just as warm as the smile that followed. “I’m Schneider.”

 _What kind of name was that?_ “Yeah, okay. Whatever. Can you turn it off? Or maybe study somewhere else?”

“Sorry, I can’t leave.” He shook his head. “The reference materials I need don’t check out. And I definitely can’t study without tunes. Music is essential to my flow.”

Penelope stared at him. “You can’t just expect everybody else to be driven to distraction by your blaring music in a library. How selfish–”

“Hey!” He reached out to interrupt her, pressing his fingers to her mouth. “Insults aren’t necessary. So we have different study styles. No big deal, Penelope.”

“Well, I have to be able to concentrate here, too,” she argued quietly, after Schneider took his hand back and she did her best to ignore the way the feeling of it lingered against her lips. “My house is so chaotic, you have no idea–and besides. People expect silence at the library.”

He raised his eyebrows. “You’re the only one who seems to mind.”

Frowning, Penelope took in the surrounding tables and realized that Schneider was right. The other students, almost all of them, were plugged into laptops or portable music players or other gadgets she didn’t even recognize. She was fighting this battle alone.

“I’ve got an idea,” Schneider murmured, instead of claiming the minor victory. 

When Penelope turned back, it struck her that somehow his eyes managed to be bright and melancholy at the same time. There were flecks of grey in the blue. “Hmm?”

“Go get your stuff. Come sit with me.”

“Why?”

“Because I’ve got an idea,” he repeated with a grin. “And if you hate it, I promise I’ll turn my music off. So come sit with me.”

Still skeptical, Penelope gathered up her stuff, silently lecturing herself the entire time about getting distracted by a pretty-boy hipster when she should be putting all her energy toward finals.

Returning to the chair next to Schneider, she spread her books and notes out. “Well? Now what?”

“Now, you give me a second to set you up.” He leaned away from her and rummaged through the bag at his feet. After a moment he pulled out a set of large black headphones and began tapping the screen of an iPod that was connected to them.

Bewildered, Penelope watched, trying to figure out why he needed a second set of headphones while he still had a pair dangling from the right side of his head. _Maybe he forgot they were in?_

Finally, Schneider tapped one last time and looked at her triumphantly. “Okay, Penelope, put these on.”

“Me?”

“Yeah, go ahead. You agreed,” he pointed out before she could protest.

“And what exactly am I about to listen to?”

“The perfect playlist. It’s music that helps you focus! And the headphones are noise-insulating. So instead of sitting in silence, getting distracted by every little sound coming from the dashing man at the next table over–” he said with a wink, “you’re fully concentrating on your work.”

“Huh.” She wanted to argue, but other than rolling her eyes when he called himself dashing, she couldn’t. It was worth a try. “Yeah, okay.”

Once she’d settled the headphones over her curls and shifted in the uncomfortable library chair, Penelope nodded. Schneider pressed play.

She couldn’t have said what she was expecting. Rap? Techno? Classical? But it wasn’t any of those things. It was completely unexpected…much like the man beside her.

Schneider had gone back to his own reading, earbuds in, but when she tapped his wrist he paused and took one out again.

Penelope lifted one side of the headset up. “What **is** this?” 

“I told you, it’s study music. Music without vocals that’s designed to focus attention. There was a great article about it in _The New Yorker._ ”

Schneider waited a moment for a reply, then put his earbud back in. She watched his eyes flick over what looked like a book on engineering, letting his headphones envelope her ears again too.

She wondered what he was listening to.

They studied side-by-side for an hour, and Penelope had to admit, it was some of the best reviewing she had managed to do so far. _Even if his presence was now part of what distracted her._

At four, she paused the playlist and took off the headset, smiling at Schneider when he noticed her movement and turned away from his computer.

“So, I’m sorry if I was a little…intense, before. I’ve got a lot riding on school right now.”

“Hey, it worked out great for me,” he replied. “I met you.” 

Tucking the iPod in his bag, Schneider added, “Done for the day then?”

“Yep. Gotta get home.” Feeling suddenly awkward, she busied herself with packing everything back up.

Schneider was watching her instead of returning to his studying. “Hey, Penelope? If I’m doing the math right, your final’s on Thursday.”

“ _Ay,_ you are correct.” _That was so not enough time to make sure she was ready._

“So, does that mean you’re free Friday?”

She picked up her backpack and stared at him. “I don’t have class, no.”

“What I meant was, are you busy that afternoon.” 

Schneider grinned at her again, like he had when they met, all affable charm. “Would you like to get coffee with me on Friday?”

This time, Penelope found herself grinning back. “Yeah. I’d like that.”

**Author's Note:**

> Submit a prompt for a ODAAT minific [here.](http://actuallylorelaigilmore.tumblr.com/ask)


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